


Of Muscle and Mettle

by NamelessMoogle



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comrades in Arms, Episode Gladiolus DLC, Episode Gladiolus Spoilers, Gen, POV Canon Character, Soul-Searching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-07-13 13:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16019075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelessMoogle/pseuds/NamelessMoogle
Summary: A phone call from Gladio caught Cor off guard, to the point that he had to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn't having a bad dream. Truth be told, Cor wanted to ask Gladio not to throw his life away, as the life of a Shield belonged to his king.(Episode Gladiolustold in a different perspective.)





	1. Chapter 1

Few things could surprise Cor Leonis, a man who had served the Crown for over three decades. Even with the Kingdom of Lucis ruined and the Crownsguard scattered, he never lost his faith but kept on going, searching for royal tombs to aid the young king. Also, he ran into the imperial troops as often as Noctis and his friends did, which meant that he was too busy to be surprised at the little things.

A phone call from Gladio, however, caught Cor off guard, to the point that he had to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn't having a bad dream. Truth be told, Cor wanted to ask Gladio not to throw his life away, as the life of a Shield belonged to his king.

Ignis had sent in a report, just a few days before, to inform the Marshal of how they had gotten the Regalia back, including the confrontation with Ravus Nox Fleuret, who had flung Gladio off as if the gigantic young man were a ragdoll. Having gone through a similar ordeal himself, Cor understood the anger and frustration Gladio was experiencing. There was no way Cor could ignore this particular cry for help, even if he would have to walk into the living hell for the boy.

So, there he was, waiting for Gladio at the Crow's Nest. While he would rather go for a hard liquor to get away from the jitter, even temporarily, he knew Gladio depended on him for the task at hand. A mug of coffee then kept Cor company until a tall man in a black leather jacket came in. "'Bout time," Cor muttered, hearing the familiar footsteps.

A server promptly asked Gladio what he'd like, then stepped away, giving the patrons some privacy. Staring at the half-empty mug he was holding, Cor started talking. 

"Allow me to ask you once more: are you sure you're ready to take on the Blademaster?"

Gladio sighed, but did not hesitate to answer the question. "I went up against the high commander and got my ass handed to me. I didn't stand a chance. And I never will unless I get more power."

"Then answer my question: are you ready or not?" _Tell me you're not, and I will help you obtain the power in another -- and less suicidal -- way._

To Cor's dismay, the young man scoffed at him. "You think I would've called you if I weren't?"

_No, you wouldn't have._ "So, you're ready to face death?" Ignoring the gasp Gladio let out, Cor went on. "Gilgamesh awaits challengers in the deepest recesses of those ruins. It's been thirty years since we uncovered the caves. We've sent countless expeditions, but all of our efforts have afforded us no rewards… and no survivors."

The glint in Gladio's eyes intensified. "Except for you. You undertook the trial, and you made it back alive."

Cor gazed at the starry-eyed man, unable to respond at once. "Barely." _And I've never looked back since._ He looked down and turned away from Gladio to keep the fear and worry hidden. "Let's move."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He heard Gladio mumbling, "No turning back now." _Damn right_ , Cor thought. _They already know you're here._

"Did you tell your friends why you were taking off?" Cor asked as he stepped into the cave leading to the Tempering Grounds.

"Just said it was 'business.' Didn't want 'em getting all worried about me."

Cor scoffed at Gladio, and added, "Or knowing your pride took a beating." Though he showed the young man no sign of sympathy, the Marshal could well imagine what it must have been like to face an opponent that seemed unbeatable. Keeping his mouth shut, Cor led Gladio further inside.

Soon, he heard Gladio mumbling, "No turning back now." _Damn right_ , Cor thought. _They already know you're here._ He vividly remembered the welcome he had received thirty years before.

Lacking Cor's experience, Gladio was taken aback and stopped dead on his feet when the dead bodies on the ground came alive and started to attack him. "They're alive?"

"Not for long!" Cor shouted as he unsheathed his katana.

Indeed, they did not stay for long, but both of the warriors knew it was only one of the numerous battles they were to participate in before Gladio could take on the Blademaster.

A strange voice rang out before them. "Have you come to prove your might?"

Confused, Gladio asked, "Who are you?"

"One of many who haunt these grounds, following our leader in death as in life. Naught but our souls remain, clinging to the vestiges of our past."

All Gladio could say at that point was "Why?"

"To test those determined to become the King's Shield, and prepare them to inherit the power they pursue."

Cor waited a few moments before elaborating on what the soul had just said. "The Blademaster's men have sworn their loyalty both before and beyond the grave, scaring off the unworthy." _And if you cannot stand your ground against them, your presence will mean nothing to him._

For the moment, however, Cor saw more need for fighting and less for talking, since more of Gilgamesh's men came to assault the living Lucians.

As the Marshal and the Shield made their way further into the Tempering Grounds, an enormous serpent appeared and blocked the path they were on. _The old brunnrsormr is still around, huh?_ Standing between the serpent and Gladio, Cor reached for his weapon. “Just like I taught you. Ready?”

“And raring to go!”

Annoying as it was to fight the brunnrsormr, it was nothing Cor couldn’t handle; on the contrary, he could have left it to Gladio, who would have slain the ugly creature without trouble. However, once the serpent fell, Cor felt a familiar presence he hadn’t expected there and then.

_Shit, the kid’s not ready yet._

Not even Cor the Immortal, the only one who had walked out of the Tempering Grounds alive in the last three decades, had imagined Gilgamesh coming out of his abode in the deepest part of the cave to greet the Chosen King’s Shield. The Marshal shuddered at the cold air the Blademaster carried, though he was no longer allowed the privilege of speaking to the legendary warrior.

Cor had no reason to fear for himself, but all the reason to fear for Gladio. Not only was the boy Noctis’s Shield, he was also the son of Clarus, Cor’s friend and mentor. Also, Gladio was a member of a Crownsguard and his pupil. Cor had so many connections to Gladio that he wouldn’t know how to deal with it should Gladio meet his demise before the old soldier himself. After all, Cor knew better than anyone that Gilgamesh showed no mercy towards those who wished to succeed him.

**_”Brute force alone does little to impress. Only he who possesses both muscle and mettle of equal caliber deserves the honor of fighting beside the Chosen King as his sworn Shield.”_ **

**_”All those unworthy or unwilling to rise to the task meet their end here, by my blade.”_ **

Cor had never forgotten the Blademaster’s words. Nevertheless, all he could do at the moment was hope that Gladio would come back to him unscathed.

Somehow, Gladio did return, though he was scowling when he appeared before Cor’s eyes. Keeping his relief and delight in check, Cor urged Gladio on, towards the nearest campsite, for a much-needed break.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Keep your eyes and ears open, Gladio.” That was all Cor could say before they went further in, knowing that Gilgamesh’s men were watching their newest challenger.

“So, the Blademaster…”

Though Gladio was a grown-up -- a fairly large one --, he almost sounded like a curious boy struggling to ask a question he didn’t know how to phrase.

“He’s a master of blades. What -- were you expecting something profound?” Cor pretended to laugh it off, hoping to take Gladio’s mind off the defeat at Gilgamesh’s hand. Hearing nothing from the Shield, Cor wondered who was more nervous over what was to come -- Gladio or himself.

The campsite was nothing short of a gift from the Six to the two battle-worn swordsmen. The food, on the other hand, wasn’t up to the Marshal’s standards, as Gladio had brought a backpack full of Cup Noodles. While Cor wasn’t stupid enough to expect something akin to Ignis’s homecooked meals, he still had wanted to see some sensibility in the younger man. Unwilling to fight on an empty stomach, Cor relented and sat down as Gladio handed him a styrofoam cup.

“The Blademaster isn’t here to train you,” Cor reminded Gladio when they finished the meal. “He’s here to test you. He won’t go easy on you just because you joined the Crownsguard.”

Gladio wasn’t fazed. “So, no mercy for newbies like me… So what -- the weak aren’t worthy of serving as Shield?”

Cor shook his head. “In his eyes, the weak aren’t worthy of living.” _Neither am I, for all I know._ “All of them are fools, punished for aspiring beyond their station.” _And thirty years ago…_ “I was a fool back then, too -- and I was punished.”

“But you weren’t killed,” Gladio pointed out as he looked into Cor’s eyes. “Maybe you weren’t worthy of serving as Shield, but he must’ve seen you as worthy of living.”

 _I’ll never know._ “Maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t.” After all, the Blademaster hadn’t bothered to explain why he’d let Cor go, instead of having him join the piles of bones within the Tempering Grounds. The reason didn’t matter to Cor anymore, decades later, when he was no longer the spitfire who only looked at what was right before his eyes.

“Keep your eyes and ears open, Gladio.” That was all Cor could say before they went further in, knowing that Gilgamesh’s men were watching their newest challenger.

*****

No matter how much Cor wanted to look out for Gladio, there were some things Gladio had to do alone, and one such task was waiting for the Shield several steps away.

“What’s this?”

“A trial chamber. The hand-holding stops here -- good luck.”

Cor knew what the old souls in the chamber were capable of, and that it wasn’t beyond what Gladio could stand against. However, Cor felt goosebumps forming on his skin as he heard the familiar declaration echoing through the chamber.

“Prepare yourself, young warrior, for the trials that await.”

Back when Cor was in the trial chamber, he paid no attention to how Clarus felt while waiting outside. The older Amicitia was already the sworn Shield to Regis, and Cor was just a teenager who happened to be good with the katana and had been a Crownsguard for a couple of years then. 

Looking back, Cor admitted that his 15-year-old self was pretty well off, being able to make a living at a young age, all the while serving the Crown. He didn’t need to be ambitious over Clarus’s position -- **he shouldn’t have.** Yet, he was foolish, thinking himself invincible, even against the legendary Shield of the Founder King.

Cor fell to his knees, praying to the Astrals for Gladio’s safe return.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _They didn’t say anything about the Shield to me._ Aware of the different positions they held, Cor nodded at Gladio and stepped further into the Tempering Grounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick update, in celebration of finding the misplaced notes for this fic, before _real life_ keeps me too busy and tired for fun stuff once again.

Although Cor trusted in Gladio and his skills, the Marshal held his breath while waiting for the Shield to come out of the trial chamber. _By the Six, Gladio, be safe._

A voice soon announced, just as Cor had expected, “Our power goes with you, Young Warrior,” indicating Gladio’s victory. Cor stood back up, stretching his limbs to make sure that Gladio wouldn’t know that he had been kneeling down.

The same voice addressed Gladio when the chamber door opened. “Stand tall, for the Shield of the King must kneel in subjugation before no man.”

 _They didn’t say anything about the Shield to me._ Aware of the different positions they held, Cor nodded at Gladio and stepped further into the Tempering Grounds. “Your first trial may have ended, but many more await you on your road to an audience with the Blademaster. Prepare yourself.”

*****

“My father never undertook the Trial of Gilgamesh, did he?” Gladio asked when he finished eating a cup noodle at the next campsite.

Cor shook his head. “No. You wanna know why?”

“I do. I mean, it can’t be because he was scared, right?”

“Not of the Trial. He was scared of failing as leader of the Crownsguard -- and as a Shield of the King.” _Sort of like you are right now._ “But he couldn’t leave His Majesty alone, weakened by the Wall as he was. After all, what good is a Shield with no one protect?”

Gladio flinched at the question, but managed to stay still enough not to disturb the fire.

“What about you, Gladio? Worried about leaving your king alone?” _Even if Noct has Ignis and Prompto, he is still without his Shield at the moment._

“A little, but I’m gonna do what’s right for me like my father did what was right for him.”

Cor acknowledged the resolution with a nod. _Like father, like son._

*****

Unlike Cor, Gladio talked a lot even as they walked towards another trial chamber. “How long has it been since you undertook the Trial? Thirty years or so?”

The older man then remembered that he had had companions who were more talkative than the young Shield. “Give or take. I was a lot younger than you are -- and far less experienced. It’s a wonder I even made it out alive.”

To Cor’s dismay, Gladio looked around, not so much like a warrior scouting the area, but more like a tourist in awe of the surroundings. “This places look familiar to you?”

 _I wish it didn’t._ “Vaguely. The younger me had little mind for looking in the sight.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Scream at me about my little fics](https://twitter.com/namelessmoogle1).


End file.
